Thumb War?
by BookProf101
Summary: What happens when Skye Penderwick is dragged to a party? Bad things, that's what. I don't own the Penderwicks.
1. Leave me in the stars

**I'm baaack! It's been a while, hasn't it? This is my second attempt at a multi-chaptered story. The first kind of…dwindled. Enjoy!**

**-BookProf101**

Skye had not wanted to go. "It's the perfect night to view stars," she'd protested, telescope just waiting to be set up in the back yard. "Can't you and Jeffrey go by yourselves?"

Jane was persistent. "No, because deep down inside you, a voice is screaming for some fun, to get away from prime numbers and algebra."

"It's actually calculus," Skye interjected. She marched out of their bedroom to the kitchen, where Rosy was softly humming and making a pineapple upside down cake. Rosalind looked up from her ingredients at the thud of Skye's telescope suddenly resting on the floor. She swatted Skye's hand away from her sticky glaze.

"A night out would do you good, Skye."

The sister in question just licked her fingers, mumbling, "A night out under the stars, definitely."

"You've been shut up on the roof all weekend gazing at constellations and muttering about dark matter. Even Iantha thinks you need a night out." Rosalind turned back toward her cake. "It'll be good for you."

"I don't care; fresh night air is good for a person too."

"True, but one could argue about your social life." It was a low blow, and Rosalind knew it, but Skye really needed to get out. Her mutterings were getting even more undistinguishable and frantic. Batty was beginning to fear Skye was going to turn into a mad scientist.

"How about I go to the party, stay until ten, and then go home. I will still have time to star gaze, Jane will get to do…whatever people do at parties, and you'll have peace and quiet. Mostly." Skye was sure this was the best plan. It fit everyone.

"You will be OAP and have to look after Jane. You know she'll want to stay at least until eleven." Rosy slid her cake into the oven, setting the timer without even looking. Pineapple upside down cake was a recipe she loved. Skye nodded and was set upon by many hands belonging to her sisters. Her precious telescope was wrested out of her hands and a sleek black dress quickly shoved into them.

"I don't recall buying this," Skye said, eyeing it with distaste.

"Of course you don't; _I _bought it so you could at least say that you meet the closet quota of owning _one _Little Black Dress," Jane clomped down the staircase wearing an ink blue dress that went a little past her knees. Her shoes were simple blue sandals that strapped neatly to her heels. At that moment Batty popped out from the kitchen table where she's been searching for her essay about animal cruelty and why it had to be stopped. A grin lit her face when she saw the dress in Skye's arms.

"Let's get you dressed." The other three Penderwick sisters dragged a still-struggling Skye up the stairs.

"Come on, Skye. You've got to at least get out of the car," Jane pleaded.

Skye was wedged in the back seat, arms and legs tightly crossed. Technically, she _was _at the party. She closed her eyes to drown out the loud music emanating from the direction of the party.

"Go ahead Jane." That was Jeffrey. He had come with the sisters to take a break from constantly playing music. Even he needed a break from time to time. Skye cracked one eye open. He was wearing a crisp white shirt and jeans. As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, he looked nice.

"I'm not going in."

"I wasn't going to ask you to." She heard him leave and opened her eyes. He was coming back now with a red plastic cup. "Water for you. Oh, and Jane's inside, wild and babbling about Sabrina Starr."

Skye, who had been gulping down the water, spewed it all over the seat in front of her. _"What?"_ She could just barely handle a babbling Jane, but she wasn't about to let other people be tortured by Jane's ramblings.

Struggling a little to get out of the car (why did she have to wear this dress?) Skye raced as fast as she could for the door in the strappy black heels Batty had insisted she wear.

"They're gorgeous!" Batty had said. _But not hardly as practical as sneakers._

Skye crashed through the door, grabbing Jeffrey's shoulder for balance. _Never in my life will I wear these again._

"Come on." Taking her cautiously by the elbow, Jeffery steered Skye toward a group of teenagers where Jane was sitting in a circle with a black top hat in the center. Skye's eyes widened ever so slightly. She'd heard about this a long time ago during a family reunion from her third cousin Mel, who'd been to a party right before.

"It's called Seven Minutes of Heaven." Mel had said. "You sit in a circle and put something that symbolizes you in a hat, and the hat gets passed around until everyone's put something in. Someone is handed the hat and they pull out an object. Whomever that object belongs to goes into a closet with the person who picked it, and-" her voice dropped into a whisper, "-they kiss. Or at least, they're supposed to." Mel had sat back and smiled, giggling a little as if she'd just shared an enormous secret with the Penderwick sisters.

Skye went numb. Jane stretched up her hands and pulled Jeffrey, then Skye, to the floor.

"This will be fantastic!" said Jane's friend Lydia. "George, you've gotta play!" George was hanging on the sidelines and could only shake his head once before getting pulled in.

"Everyone, place something in the hat," said Catherine, another one of Jane's new acquaintances. She dropped a bill of Monopoly money into the hat before passing it to Skye.

"If you'll excuse me, I-" Skye was cut off.

"Skye Penderwick, sit down and drop something into the hat right this instant!" Jane snagged Skye's wrist and forced her back down.

With a sigh, Skye unwound a tatty, fraying gray shoelace from a strap on her heels. She'd tied it on for a sense of the familiar, though she hadn't been allowed to wear her sneakers.

"_Why_ do you have that?" Jane asked.

"Sentimental reasons." It wasn't just any shoelace; it was a shoelace from the only pair of shoes not ruined by Hoover at Birches years ago. It was from the shoes that had beat Jeffrey and Jane so many times at soccer. But never would it be a popsicle stick or a knee pad.

"You? Sentimental? The world has gone mad!" Jane said, with her usual dramatic flair.

"Nope, I think the only mad one is you." Skye dropped the shoelace in. The odds were in her favor. Eleven people, only one of her. It was unlikely anyone would choose her shoelace anyway. Skye passed the hat to Jeffrey, who dropped in a small metal music note keychain. Skye had given it to him after Iantha and her father's wedding. Everyone dropped an object in, finally ending when it came to Jane, who, slightly tearfully, parted with her 54th best pen. The hat was then mischievously handed to Skye.

_This wasn't supposed to happen._ Skye tentatively stuck her hand in, eyes closed and trying not to pick something. She eventually closed her hands on the first thing her fingertips had remembered touching.

It was a tiny metal music note key chain. _Definitely not supposed to happen._


	2. Seven Minutes to Freedom

**Hello! My computer hasn't been connecting to the Internet very well, sorry for the delay. There will be a third chapter; it just isn't in existence yet. Death by Black Hole, the book Skye reads at Birches, is real and is FANTASTIC! The Various, a book mentioned by Jane in The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, is a fantastic trilogy. I do not own Narnia, the Penderwicks, or Wicked, though they are all fantastic!**

**Justme (Guest): You got it! Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy forever!**

**Readwriteedit: Thank you for your two cents; they are worth a lot to me! You're right about Jeffrey and Skye.**

**Kso12: Be patient, sister dear. I'm writing as fast as I can!**

**-BookProf101**

Skye fidgeted as Jane's smirking face locked the closet door on her and Jeffrey. _Why did I ever agree to come to this party?_

It was dark, the only light coming from the outline of the door. _At least it's not enough light for Jeffrey to see my face, _she thought,_ I'm sure it's red as a tomato._

The coats stank of cigarettes; whoever they belonged to was ruining their lives one smoke at a time. Skye wrinkled her nose in disgust. They sat in silence, both too embarrassed and anxious to say anything. The quiet built up, forming like a cement block over their heads.

"So…"Skye said.

"So…" Jeffrey replied.

"So, how much to you want to bet there's a secret passageway out of here?" Skye had read Narnia, at Jane's insistence. It wasn't bad, but _Death by Black Hole_ was still better.

Jeffery smiled, though Skye couldn't see it. "Let's check." Dragging the foul-smelling coats out of the way, Skye and Jeffrey felt around the tight confines of the closet. Jeffrey's hand brushed against Skye's hair. _It's so soft,_ he marveled. Skye hardly seemed to care about her hair, so he hadn't paid it much notice. But now he was enraptured. Jeffrey shook his head. Now was not the time.

Skye sighed. There wasn't a way out of here and the closet most definitely did not lead to Narnia, though she might have gone there just to get away from the closet, not to see Mr. Tumnas.

"That failed. We may as well talk. What's going on at the music school?" Skye hardly sounded interested, but talking about something would at least keep the silence away.

"Well, there's a concert coming up. I'll be playing with the orchestra for the acting school next door's rendition of Wicked. There's one song called "Defying Gravity" that's a lot of fun to play. It-"Jeffrey was cut off by Skye's hand tightly clamped over his mouth.

"I'm not sorry, but please…talk about something else. How about a thumb war?" Skye wasn't the biggest fan of music, he knew, so her interruption didn't bother him.

"In the dark?"

"Yep. That makes it more fun." Skye stuck out her hand. Jeffrey took it, instinctively knowing where it was. They had played countless games of thumb war on the long car trip back from Birches when they weren't begging Jane to be quiet about Sabrina Starr's next adventure. Jeffrey's fingers were strong from years of piano playing, but Skye's were quick and agile from ages of stealing globs of glaze, icing, and various deserts of Rosy's. They were pretty evenly matched, and each game escalated into peals of laughter.

"One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war," they chanted.

Skye's thumb feinted left, and then dove right. Jeffrey couldn't see her thumb, but he could feel every muscle in her hand. Her thumb was right…there!

Light flooded the closet. "Time's up," Jane said. She gawked as she noticed Jeffrey's thumb securely pinning Skye's down.

"You two are the least romantic people I have ever met," she muttered.

Skye checker her watch. If she drove fast, she could still set up her telescope in time to have two hours of glorious star gazing. "Let's go." She grabbed their arms, heading for the door. As they passed the former sight of the dreaded circle, Skye saw Lydia trying to smother George in kisses. George looked miserable. _I know how you feel,_ she thought._ Parties aren't my thing either. Though Lydia's probably the cause of his miserable situation._

The ride home was completely silent except for the scratching of Jane's pen. Skye had securely tied the shoelace back onto her heels and was feeling much more reassured as she drove down the dark streets back to Gardam.


	3. Seeing Stars

**Hey everybody! Wow, time really flies, doesn't it? I apologize to any astrophysicists reading this story; I'm not accurate when it comes to stars. I am getting great use through my poetic license. I could give you a million (or possibly a billion) reasons why I didn't update sooner, but the story waits! Happy reading!**

**-BookProf101**

Skye easily clambered up onto her favorite spot on the roof. She leaned back, hands folded behind her head as she stared up into the stars.

_I wonder what it's like up there. Jane would probably tell me to ask an alien. _Skye snorted. Over the years, Jane's flair for the dramatic hadn't dimmed a bit.

Breathing in the night air, Skye closed her eyes. _This_ was the best part of stargazing. It was a time to relax from occasional OAP duties, to get a break from Jane's mutterings at their worst, to-

Skye sat up. A large, furry orange body settled beside her. "Hello, Asimov," Skye said, eyes closed once more. The girl and the cat lay there on the roof in comfortable silence. Sitting on the roof together had become routine.

A wind swept down Gardam Street, blowing red-gold and brown leaves from the maple trees. They skittered down the street, tumbling in the wind as it turned frosty. _It's getting cold, _Skye thought. _Halloween is just around the corner._ Skye contemplated her options for costumes this year. Dark matter had already been done, as well as being the constellation Orion. Skye grimaced; Hound had tried to eat the glow-in-the-dark stars she had painstakingly glued on to her black pants and shirt. By the end of the night, Orion's belt was gone.

Skye sighed; she would think about it later. For now, she would enjoy her time alone for as long as she could.

Something thumped on the roof.

"Asimov, I'm not letting you out now. I'm too cozy," Skye said, eyes shut. When she didn't get an answer, Skye frowned._ Well, what did I expect? Asimov's a cat, for goodness sake! Maybe Jane's rubbing off on me. _She shuddered and leaned back. A tail draped itself across her eyes.

"Jane, if you want a proofreader, go ask Batty. Or Rosalind. I'm busy." No answer.

Slightly unsettled, Skye sat up. Asimov barely twitched, only to rearrange his tail as a person sat down beside Skye.

"Wasn't Batty at the piano with you?" Skye asked. She could smell his shampoo, vividly remembering the crisp white shirt.

"Hey Skye." Jeffrey smiled. "We just finished a long discussion about music theory. Apparently-"

Skye held up her hand. "Stop right there. If you are going to talk about music, turn around and leave. This is a star-zone only." Polaris, the North Star, gleamed just above Quigley Woods.

"How about you tell me about stars instead?" Jeffrey said. He mimicked one of Skye's faces that he saw nearly every time he got started talking about music.

"Stop that!" Without a pillow or nearby boot to throw at him, Skye started tickling him.

_Two can play this game._ Jeffrey flexed his fingers, a twinkle in his eyes. Skye shrieked with laughter. It wasn't a fair game; he wasn't ticklish at all, yet she tried. Their merriment echoed through a nearly deserted Gardam Street. Asimov flicked his tail, sitting directly on the roof's hatch. Such frivolities, he decided, were not for cats.

Both gasping for air, Skye and Jeffrey settled themselves on the roof. After a few moments' silence, Jeffrey spoke.

"Remember when we went to see the moose?"

Skye nodded. He'd gotten her up way before what was acceptable for summer and while they waited they had competed to see who could complete the most push-ups. He'd won, she remembered. Then there was the question, which led her to feel his forehead.

"Well, um…" he shifted in place. Skye couldn't help but notice the way his shirt crinkled.

"Yes?" Skye prodded. She could tell he was nervous. Whatever he was going to say, it was important.

"You're like music." Jeffrey's hands began fidgeting with the button on his pocket.

"Sorry?" He thought she was boring? What?

Jeffrey visibly drew in a breath. "What I'm trying to say is, I-"He paused.

"I love you."

Skye's heart started pounding in her ears, thumping wildly. Had she heard him correctly? Jeffrey, her best friend, _loved_ her? A small, nearly forgotten bubble of emotion rose in Skye's chest, traveling to her heart. It was her daydreams and other things she'd put away long ago.

Jeffrey's eyes stared into her blue ones, full of fear and hope and near despair.

_Oh no,_ he thought. _I've ruined it._

Unconsciously, Skye began to smile. Before she could think, Skye's emotions tumbled out of her mouth into words.

"I love you too."

Asimov curled up on the trapdoor. This was getting good, and his chees could wait.

Slowly, Skye whispered in Jeffrey's ear. "If it's all right with you, I'd like to get back to the stars."

Jeffrey wordlessly nodded, joyful yet crushed. How could she just go back to the stars after he'd taken what seemed like the biggest risk of his heart?

But Skye's face wasn't turned up toward the sky. In fact, it was getting closer and closer until they were mere inches apart. Then her lips, chilled from the wind were on his and nothing else mattered.

Asimov glanced down at the trap. Someone would be coming up soon. Didn't they know what the roof was for?

It was for seeing stars.

**Well, that's it! The end of my first chaptered story! Please review and tell me what you thought, what you felt, and how I can improve! Also, for the otakus of the world: Kso12 has a story to share. Enormous thanks and a basket of cupcakes (lemon with raspberry icing) to all my lovely readers. **

**-BookProf101**


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